Zebrabiores

María Cascallar is graduated in Biology by the University of Santiago de Compostela (2018). She studied the Genomics and Genetics Master’s Degree at the same university (2019).  Her master’s final project was performed at the Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), directed by Dr. María de la Fuente (Nano-Oncology and Translational Therapeutics Unit) and Dr. Roberto Piñeiro (Roche-Chus Joint Unit).

In 2019, she started her PhD in Molecular Medicine, under the supervision of Dr. María de la Fuente and Prof. Laura Sánchez. Her work was focused on the development of nanosystems for cancer therapy and their evaluation in vitro, in 2D and 3D cell culture models, and in vivo, in zebrafish models. By the end of 2023, she successfully defended her doctoral thesis, achieving the Cum Laude and International mentions.

In the framework of her thesis, she obtained a “CIBERONC Mobility Grant-Call I 2021” (2021) which allowed her to do a research stay at the Molecular Oncology Laboratory of Fundación Investigación Hospital General Universitario de Valencia and at the Unidad Mixta TRIAL of Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe (Valencia, Spain), under the supervision of Dr. Carlos Camps, Dr. Eloisa Jantus and Dr. Silvia Calabuig. For two months, she improved her skills in molecular techniques and 3D cell culture. After this opportunity, she was granted with a research stay from “Programa IACOBUS: Estancias” (2021). She spent three months at the Medical Devices Group of International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory-INL (Braga, Portugal), under the supervision of Dr. Lorena Diéguez. There, she learnt about the development of microfluidic devices for 3D organ-on-a-chip models.

During her thesis, she has presented her work in different national and international scientific congresses, as well as, in research articles.

Currently, she is developing her research career in the Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela.